Quotes

Prophet Jacob (Ya’qub) (peace be upon him) said:

“O my son! Relate not your vision to your brothers, lest they arrange a plot against you. Verily! Satan is to man an open enemy! Thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of dreams (and other things) and perfect His Favor on you and on the offspring of Ya’qub, as He perfected it on your fathers, Abraham, and Isaac aforetime! Verily! Your Lord is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

Those who spend their wealth in the way of God, and then do not follow up what they spent with reminders of their generosity or with insults, will have their reward with their Lord—they have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve.

“Perhaps I was particularly blessed to have discovered Islam in 1977, before the Iranian Revolution, when Muslims where less visible and Islam’s spiritual message less smothered by political events and violent headlines. But given the opportunity to study the Revelation and not the Revolution, the result – God willing – would have been the same.”

“Art itself is an aesthetic crossroad, where cultures and civilization freely mix peacefully without borders or passports. It is the way in which we can trade with each other the fruits of our beliefs and ideas, in symbols and through prose, the mysterious sentiments and beauty of our faith and eternal hopes.”

“You’ll find that a lot of songs were seeking answers. Now I didn’t have the answers. I was looking for answers. As a poet I’d be expressing myself. As a songwriter I would be expressing myself through my music, through my words but I wasn’t really providing any answers I was looking. So there was a gap, music in a way fills a certain need, Fulfils a certain need mainly when people are living in the kind of pressure of this modern life they need some relief.”

“You know its a mysterious thing about how music is so powerful. I believe its something to do with the longing that human beings have for unification with something higher and more harmonious than their existence and their mundane lives. Wanting to grasp that somehow becomes possible through the vehicle of music”

“Anyone of you who sees wrong, let him undo it with his hand; and if he cannot, then let him speak against it with his tongue, and if he cannot do this either, then (let him abhor it) with his heart, and this is the least of faith.”

Say, ‘O mankind, the truth has come to you from your Lord, so whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul, and whoever goes astray only goes astray [in violation] against it. And I am not a warder over you.’

“If you are three, two amongst you should not converse secretly between yourselves to the exclusion of the other (third one), until some other people join him (and dispel his loneliness), for it may hurt his feelings.”

“My Lord! Inspire and bestow upon me the power and ability that I maybe grateful for Your Favors which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds that will please You, and admit me by Your Mercy among Your righteous slaves.”

“A person suffered from intense thirst while on a journey, when he found a well. He climbed down into it and drank (water) and then came out and saw a dog lolling its tongue on account of thirst and eating the moistened earth. The person said: This dog has suffered from thirst as I had suffered from it. He climbed down into the well, filled his shoe with water, then caught it in his mouth until he climbed up and made the dog drink it. So Allah appreciated this act of his and pardoned him. Then (the Companions around him) said: Allah’s Messenger, is there for us a reward even for (serving) such animals? He said: Yes, there is a reward for service to every living animal.”

By the sun in its morning brightness and by the moon as it follows it, by the day as it displays the sun’s glory and by the night as it conceals it, by the sky and how He built it and by the earth and how He spread it, by the soul and how He formed it and inspired it [to know] its own rebellion and piety! The one who purifies his soul succeeds and the one who corrupts it fails.

The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) used to seek refuge (with God) from four things: From knowledge that is of no benefit, from a heart that does not feel humble, from a supplication that is not heard, and a soul that is never satisfied.

Say: I seek refuge with The Lord and Cherisher of Mankind. The King of Mankind. The God of Mankind. From the mischief of the sneaking whisperer. Who whispers into the hearts of Mankind. From among Jinn and Mankind.

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His Light is like a niche wherein is a lamp; the lamp is in a crystal, and the crystal, shining as if a pearl-like radiant star, lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree that is neither of the east nor of the west. The oil would almost give light of itself though no fire touches it. Light upon light! God guides to His Light whom He wills. God strikes parables for people. God has full knowledge of all things.

“The similitude of mine and that of the Apostles before me is that of a person who built a house quite imposing and beautiful and he made it complete but for one brick in one of its corners. People began to walk round it, and the building pleased them and they would say: But for this brick your building would have been perfect. Muhammad (ﷺ) said: And I am that final brick.”

On the Day when you see the believers, both men and women, with their light streaming out ahead of them and to their right, [they will be told], ‘The good news for you today is that there are Gardens graced with flowing streams where you will stay: that is truly the supreme triumph!’

“O my son! Relate not your vision to your brothers, lest they arrange a plot against you. Verily! Satan is to man an open enemy! Thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of dreams (and other things) and perfect His Favor on you and on the offspring of Ya’qub, as He perfected it on your fathers, Abraham, and Isaac aforetime! Verily! Your Lord is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

Say, ‘My Lord has guided me to a straight path, an upright religion, the faith of Abraham, a man of pure faith. He was not a polytheist.’ Say, ‘My prayers and sacrifice, my life and death, are all for God, Lord of all the Worlds; He has no partner. This is what I am commanded, and I am the first to devote myself to Him.’

There truly are signs in the creation of the heavens and earth, and in the alternation of night and day, for those with understanding, who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth: ‘Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose- You are far above that!

“I don’t think that God sent us prophets and books to fight about these books and these prophets. But they were telling us, actually, how to live together. If we ignore those teachings…whichever faith you belong to, you profess, I think we’ll be finding ourselves in an even deeper mess.”

Exempt those who join a people with whom you have concluded a peace treaty, and those who come to you with hearts unwilling to fight you, nor to fight their relatives. Had God willed, he could have placed them in power over you and they would have made war on you. Therefore, if they leave you alone, refrain from fighting you, and offer you peace, then God gives you no way to go against them.

“Allah, Most High, has truly blessed us. He has created just for us the mysterious spirit that He has breathed into us and by so doing distinguished us from all other physical creation. He has adorned us with our incomparable intellect, which further distinguishes us from all else in this creation. What other creature on this planet – another gift He has blessed us with – can even begin to create the likes of this Internet? Will we not stop, give thanks to our Merciful and Generous Lord? Will we not stop and realize how precious our lives are and begin to show each other more love, mercy, kindness and empathy? Will we not stop, take time, and reflect?”

Once the Last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was walking with his wife, Safiyyah bint Huyay, when two companions from the Ansar passed by them. The Prophet called them and said, ‘She is my wife, Safiyyah bint Huyay.’ They were surprised and asked him why he said that. He replied, ‘Satan flows inside people like blood, I feared maybe he put bad thoughts in your minds about me.’

“Study me as much as you like, you will not know me, for I differ in a hundred ways from what you see me to be. Put yourself behind my eyes and see me as I see myself, for I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see.”

And in their (the earlier prophets) footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the law that had come before him. We sent him the Gospel, therein was guidance and light and confirmation of the law that had come before him, a guidance and an admonition to those who fear God.

“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.”

Exalted is He who put the constellations in the heavens, a radiant light, and an illuminating moon-it is He who made the night and day follow each other-so anyone who wishes may be mindful or show gratitude.

“I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me a hand’s span, I draw near to him an arm’s length; and if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.”

“I would not love to have the world or anything in it in exchange for this verse: O my servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of God. Verily, God forgives all sins, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” (39:53)

Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily, to them will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions.

“The three most important things are giving charity during times of need; being impeccably mindful of God in private; and speaking the truth in the face of one you hope to benefit from, or one you fear.”

They give food to the poor, the orphan, and the captive, though they love it themselves, saying, ‘We feed you for the sake of God alone. We seek neither recompense nor thanks from you. We fear the Day of our Lord-a woefully grim Day.’

“The verses of the Qur’an talked about other Prophets as brothers preaching the same unifying script of mankind, showing every man and woman the way to Paradise. I saw the names of Jesus, of Moses, of Abraham, of Jacob, of Noah and of course, crucially, the name of this last messenger, the last Messenger of God, Muhammad.”

We have commanded people to be good to their parents: their mothers carried them, with strain upon strain, and it takes two years to wean them. Give thanks to Me and to your parents- all will return to Me.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.“

When the Messenger of God (peace be upon him), awoke at night, he said:

“There is no god but You, glory be to You, O God, I ask Your pardon for my sin and I ask You for Your mercy. O God! advance me in knowledge: do not cause my heart to deviate (from guidance) after You have guided me, and grant me Your mercy: verily You are the Ever Giving.”

“The fact that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) cared for every human being and tried his best to ensure their security in the hereafter must be the most telling of his compassionate and merciful characteristics.”

A light [Muhammad] has now come to you from God, and a Scripture [The Qur’an] making things clear, with which God guides to the ways of peace those who follow what pleases Him, bringing them from darkness out into light, by His will, and guiding them to a straight path.

The believer said, ‘My people, follow me! I will guide you to the right path. My people, the life of this world is only a brief enjoyment; it is the Hereafter that is the lasting home. Whoever does evil will be repaid with its like; whoever does good and believes, be it a man or a woman, will enter Paradise and be provided for without measure.

It is He who made the sun a shining radiance and the moon a light, determining phases for it so that you might know the number of years and how to calculate time. God did not create all these without a true purpose; He explains His signs to those who understand.

“I was searching for God all my life, and as I moved from one spiritual teaching to another, I came to see them as circles, so I decided to look at what it was at the center of each of these circles; I saw Christianity as a circle, and at the center of it was Christ. I saw Judaism as a circle, and at the center of it was the Jewish identity. I saw Buddhism as a circle, and at the center of it was the Self and overcoming it. When I came to Islam, I saw it as a circle, but at its center I found only God, and God was Whom I was looking for all my life”.

“Ashura, The 10th of Muharram, is a day for the Victorious. God gave victory to Moses over his enemy, and made him a symbol of victory for the oppressed; and He gave victory to Hussain over his enemy, and made him a symbol of steadfastness upon truth. So be like Moses and be like Hussain, and do not be content except in being of the victorious.”

“Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be ready to fight the enemy you can see.”

We shall certainly test you with fear and hunger, and loss of property, lives and crops. But [Prophet], give good news to those who are steadfast, those who say, when afflicted with a calamity, ‘We belong to God and to Him we shall return.’ These will be given blessings and mercy from their Lord, and it is they who are rightly guided.

“Whenever a person feels sorry for the poor victims of (Palestinian) occupation such as orphans, the disabled, widows and medical cases, if you try to help give charity to them – be warned, you may be considered a terrorist.”

God is the ally of those who believe: He brings them out of the depths of darkness and into the light. As for the disbelievers, their allies are false gods who take them from the light into the depths of darkness.

“O God, I surrender myself to You, turn my face towards You, and entrust my affairs to You. I have entrusted my back to You for protection in hope and fear. There is no refuge and no escape from You except to You. O Lord, I have believed in Your Book, which you revealed, and Your Prophet, whom You sent.”

“You will not enter Paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace among yourselves.”

“Shall I not tell you of the best of your works, the purest of them in the eyes of your Master, the highest of them in raising your stations, and better for you than to give gold and silver, and to meet your enemy and smite their necks, and they smite yours?” They said, “What is that, O Messenger of God?” and he said, “The Remembrance of God Mighty and Majestic.”